A fresh start
by Sparkles and Rainbows
Summary: when a new technican arrives at holby, what is she hiding? please read and review! x
1. Chapter 1

Dixie smiled as she addressed her team "Good morning everyone, as you may have already noticed we have a new addition to the team, Rachel. Please make her feel welcome, enjoy your shift" she stopped for a moment, and then spotted the person she needed to speak to "Pol?"

"Yep?" she replied, smiling and coming over to her.

"I've put you with Rachel today, that alright?"

"Yeah, course it is. Where is she?"

"Gone to get changed I think. Pol?"

"Mmm?"

"Keep an eye on her for me, won't you? I'm not sure she's telling us everything, but I know I can count on you"

"No problem, see you later" Polly hugged her then went off in search of the new girl.

Dixie ran her hand through her hair, something had been telling her that not everything was all right since she had first met Rachel, but she couldn't put her finger on what it might be. Something had drawn her to Rachel since the day she had met with her for the interview; she almost felt the need to protect her, although she didn't know anything about her.

She hoped Polly would make the girl feel at ease here, she had a very friendly and easy going nature and she was easy to get along with.

Polly quickly spotted Rachel getting changed in the locker room and she waited outside until she was ready before knocking on the door and going in.

"Morning!" she said cheerfully, hugging her as she did with everyone "I'm Polly, you're with me today"

"R-Rachel" she stuttered slightly, a little overwhelmed at her new colleague's sudden display of affection, but she didn't want to pull away in case she offended her.

"Are you alright?" Polly asked her gently, frowning when Rachel looked immediately to the floor "We've got 5 minutes before we officially start our shift, do you want to go and get a drink?"

Rachel nodded slowly and followed her out of the locker room and into the kitchen "What do you want to drink? Tea, coffee, water?"

"Coffee, please. Milk, one sugar" Rachel said, smiling at her. She was warming to Polly already; Dixie had been right when she had said that she would be a good shift partner for her "Thanks" she said, taking the steaming cup from her.

"You're welcome" Polly studied the girl who was sat opposite her for a moment. She couldn't be that old, younger than she was for sure, although maybe not by much. 20, maybe 21. Polly was 23, so there wasn't that much of an age gap between them "So, what made you come here?"

"This is first job as a technician, actually. I was just lucky that they decided to take me on and give me a chance I guess"

"Yeah, but Dixie's pretty choosy. She must have thought that you'd be up to the job" Polly reasoned.

…

After their shouts had finished for the day, Dixie, Jeff, Polly and Rachel were in the kitchen.

"I'll make it. What does everyone want?" Rachel asked, grabbing some mugs out of the cupboard and making the drinks.

As it was getting near bonfire night, fireworks were firing left, right and centre. Rachel tried to ignore the loud noise but she was struggling to, flashbacks were starting to come to her.

*Flashback*

_Police officers rammed the door down and barged into the house. "Where is he?" one of them demanded in heavily accented English, his words would most likely not be recognisable to a foreigner._

"_H-he's not here. Out, he is out" her brother tried to reason with them, but his explanation was cut short by the sudden sound of gunshots firing throughout the house and ricocheting off the nearby walls, ceilings and anything else that came into their path._

"_Liar! Where is he, we know that he is in here!" _

*End flashback*

Rachel shuddered as the memory faded and she realised she was back in Holby. Those police were the same police that were supposed to be protecting them. Originally, Rachel came from Syria; the legal system there was so corrupt that it wouldn't have made much difference if they didn't have one at all.

She tried to shake the thought out of her head as she picked up the tray of mugs ready to hand around to everybody. A firework startled her, taking her back to that fateful day. She screamed and dropped the tray without even noticing it until the scalding liquid licked at her ankles.

Dixie rushed over to her, noticing that she was shaking "Rachel? Come on love, come and sit down"

Rachel let Dixie guide her over to the sofa and help her sit down next to Polly, who instantly enveloped her in a hug "I'm so sorry! Let me help you clean it up" she tried to stand up, but Polly shook her head at her "Its fine, it was an accident"

"That was my favourite mug as well!" Jeff joked, but glares from both Polly and Dixie told him that now wasn't the best time for jokes.

"What happened Rachel?" Dixie asked her, sweeping up the broken pieces of mug and putting them in the bin. Noting that she was still shaking and her expression was one of fear, she added "It's alright, like Pol said, it was an accident. No-one's fault"

Dixie's last two words had more effect on Rachel than anyone could have imagined. It was her fault, it had to be, that's what the police had told her. It was her fault that her parents had been shot and killed, her fault that she didn't know if her little brother and sister were alive or dead.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N thank you for all the lovely reviews for the first chapter, I hope you enjoy this one. Enjoy and please read and review! Xx **

Rachel waved at her new colleagues and headed towards the car park; so far, she loved it there because everyone was so friendly and they had all made her feel welcome there. Better still, they hadn't asked too many questions after the incident with the mugs earlier. She didn't know what she would have said if they did ask.

"Polly, did you ask Rachel if she wanted to come to the pub with us?" Dixie asked, linking her arm through Polly's.

"Yeah, she said she was busy though and that she needed to get back. Where's Jeff?"

"Oh, he went ahead with some of the ED lot. So, how was she today?"

"She'll be a good technician, and a good paramedic if she decides to do the exam. Bit jumpy though"

"How'd you mean?"

"I don't know, maybe she's just shy. But something definitely made her drop that tray earlier" Polly shrugged, she could only hope that Rachel would talk to them about whatever it was that was bothering her so much.

"Right; I agree with you on that one though, she looked like she'd seen a ghost or something"

…

Back at her flat, if you could even call it that, Rachel sighed. She had been put in emergency accommodation when she moved here, on the Farmead estate.

"Oi! Thought we got rid of her…" a young lad sniggered to his mates who were grouped around her front door.

"Look, just get out of my way, please" she said.

"Are you gonna make us move then? Could get you done for that you know, physical assault"

"Come on, you've had your fun. Haven't you got homes to go to?"

He shrugged, dismissing her question "Your sort shouldn't be allowed round here" with that, he walked away.

Rachel sighed, it wasn't the first time she'd had comments like that. She got out her keys and opened her front door, locking it behind her.

Opening the fridge and cupboards, she realised that she had forgotten to go to the shop after her shift to get some food in. Not that she could afford to buy much, with her wages as a technician and her rent, which seemed ridiculously high when the place was in such a state and half the electrical wiring didn't work.

Only a few minutes later, a loud crash brought her out of her thoughts and she went to see what it was "What the…ow! Oh, for goodness sake" she muttered, crouching down to pick up some of the broken glass from the now smashed window.

Suddenly, a rock came flying through the hole in the glass, hitting her hard on the back of the head. She turned around to give whoever it was a mouthful, but ended up getting hit again, this time on the front of her head and with a bigger rock. The force of it sent her flying backwards and she fell unconscious.

A few minutes later she came to, wincing and sitting up she felt the gash on her head and went to clean herself up. She thought momentarily about calling Polly or Dixie and telling them what had happened but quickly thought better of it; they were already starting to get suspicious as it was, she couldn't have them knowing where she was living, or anything about her past in Syria. She didn't know how they would react. Would they blame her like she blamed herself?


	3. Chapter 3

A sudden wave of nausea came over the young girl again and she fell back into unconsciousness.

…

"Polly, any sign of Rachel yet?" Dixie asked her "Not like her to be late"

"No, I'll try ringing her again" Polly got out her phone and dialled her number, waiting until she heard the answerphone message "No answer, it's just going straight to answerphone"

"You'll have to go with Norman then, I'm with Jeff"

…

Rachel didn't hear the knock at the door when the postman arrived; there was no letterbox; or hear him calling to her "Hello, miss? Is there anyone in?" he went around to a window and saw her lying on the floor, blood coming from a wound on the side of her head.

Trying the door, he found that the lock didn't work anyway so he went inside anyway "Hello, yes I need an ambulance please. There's a girl lying unconscious…"

It didn't take long for the ambulance to arrive and Polly jumped out while Norman went to grab the kit "Hello? Ambulance service?" the man waved her in and she went in, gasping in shock when she saw Rachel "Rachel, its Polly, can you hear me? Norman we need a board and collar please…"

Polly looked around the flat, it was in a real mess; the windows were broken and so was the lock on the front door. As they went to get her into the ambulance, Rachel opened her eyes, looking at Polly "Polly?" she whispered, trying to move her head so she could see her better. Why was she in an ambulance?

"Hi" she smiled, glad to see her awake and talking "I need you to stay still for me. Do you remember what happened?"

"N-no"

"Okay, well you were found unconscious on the floor of your flat; we're going to take you to Holby to get you checked over" Polly explained to her gently, seeing how nervous she was.

Soon they arrived at the hospital. Norman helped Polly to get her out and take her through into the ED "Zoe!" Polly called her over "Rachel Mulak, 20 years old, found unconscious at home. GCS was 6 at home, rose to 10 on the way here…"

"Over there. Thanks Pol" Rachel held onto her hand tighter when Polly and Norman had to go "Its okay, they'll look after you. I'll come and see you later" she reassured her.

Polly saw Dixie standing by the entrance and went over to her "Dix?"

"Alright Pol?"

"That was Rachel we just bought in, postman found her unconscious at home this morning"

"What?" Dixie sounded shocked; she clearly hadn't been expecting to hear that.

"Rachel was found unconscious at home this morning, that's why she was late. You know she's living on the Farmead, the door didn't lock, windows were broken. I don't think she should be living there; I've got room at my place if she needs somewhere to stay"

"Thanks Pol" Dixie stood there for a moment before Zoe came over to her.

"Dixie? Rachel Mulak, your new technician right?" Dixie nodded "Well, she's going to be fine, but we do need to keep her in for observation"

"Thanks, can I see her?" Zoe nodded her consent and she went in "Hello Rachel, how are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks. Wait, how did you know I was here?" Rachel said, confused.

"Polly told me that she bought you in earlier. Do you remember anything?"

"Just kids messing about. They threw something at the window; I don't remember anything after that"

"Right, has it happened before?" Rachel nodded and she sighed "You want to get out of there, see if you can rent somewhere out of the Farmead. Polly said to tell you that you can stop with her if you want to, just until you find somewhere else"

"Thanks" she said and Dixie smiled. Suddenly she felt nervous, Polly was bound to notice something. What would she tell her if she started asking questions about her past? She didn't want to lie to her, but she wasn't sure she could tell her. She hadn't told anyone else before other than the authorities.


	4. Chapter 4

Polly smiled at Rachel, trying to encourage the young woman to come inside "Come on in! Sorry about the mess…"

"Thanks" Rachel said, sitting down on a sofa and playing with her hands.

"Do you want a drink?" Polly called through to her from the kitchen.

"I'm fine, thanks"

Polly got herself a drink and went back into the living room, sitting down next to her. Rachel took a hair band from her wrist, using it to tie her hair back so it wasn't in her face. She suddenly wished she hadn't when she noticed Polly looking at the scars on her neck "Rachel, what happened to your neck?"

Rachel said nothing, just let her hair down again so it covered her neck and turned away from her, hiding her face "I'm sorry" Polly said quietly "I didn't mean to upset you" she stood up and went into the kitchen. Rachel would come and find her if she wanted to talk to her.

Once she had gone, Rachel let herself cry; she didn't want Polly to see her crying, because then she would ask why. She didn't want to tell anybody about what had happened to her; she couldn't, what would they think of her?

Polly felt bad, she hadn't meant to upset her. Then again, she did seem to get scared or upset quite easily; she just wished that Rachel would let her in so that she could help her. She had had her fair share of problems and she knew that talking about them did help.

After a while Rachel came into the kitchen, going upto Polly and hugging her "Hey" she smiled "Listen, I'm sorry about before, I…"

"No, its okay" Rachel interrupted her "I want to tell you, I trust you" although her stomach was churning, she carried on. Could she trust her? "When I was younger, when we lived in Syria, some men came into our house. They attacked everyone…"

"Rachel, I'm so sorry, I didn't know. Is that how you got the scars?" Rachel nodded and Polly hugged her again "I don't know what happened to you when you were living in Syria, but I do know that you're safe here. Me, Dixie and Jeff will make sure of that"


End file.
